1970 Duster 340 :The legend lives on...

[ValerianMagnum]

Hi guys just bought a my first 70 valiant duster 340 4 speed....please guys , write down youre souvenirs about this little terror , just turned 32, its been 17 years that im earing stories about this giant killer , always interesting to know !!!

 

[jimharvard]

Plymouth had a very good performing line of "A" body cars in the 67-69 Barracudas. the fastback Barracudas from 67-69 all weighed around 3000 lbs. and with the power to weight ratio with the available V8's - 340, 383 and the "special edition" 68's (426 Hemi) and the 69 440 M-Code Cudas, Plymouth's A bodies were extremely competitive on the "street" and the "strip." Chrysler was in the middle of a "factory produced" drag racing market for the new 1970 model years. however, for 1970, Plymouth completely redesigned the "Cuda" to make it wider and bigger and more able to accept the large 440 and 426 V8's. with the increase in size of the "new" "Cuda", the weight of this car increased at least 500 lbs. enter the 1970 Plymouth Duster and the Dodge Demon. both these cars were carry over A-bodies. the largest V8 available from the factory was a 340. but because of the performance of that motor and the light weight of the cars, the 70 Duster and Demon were high 13 second 1/4 mile cars right off the truck. naturally, lots of serious street and drag racers dropped 440's in the cars and Ronnie Sox (the "God" of mopar racing) campaigned a 426 Hemi Duster for several years at national NHRA drag races.

the reason why the 1970 Duster and Demon were often referred to as "giant killers" is because those cars equipped with the 340, 4 speed and a 3:91 rear gear - all available factory options - could outrun almost all of the "small and big block" cars produced in 1970 in a 1/4 mile. they would outrun the: 400 GTO and Firebird; 396 Camaro and Chevelle (except the L78 375 hp 396 or the LS-6 454) and ANY 1970 Ford. however, several of their "mopar brethren" would "blow their doors off" like the 440 six pac Roadrunner, GTX, Cuda, Challenger, Charger and Super Bee.

the 1970 Duster and Demon were the last of the fast A-body mopars. if you had saved up your "newspaper route money" and bought a shinny new 70 "Plum Crazy" Duster with a 340, 4 speed trans and 3:91 diff. from your local Plymouth dealer - then bolted on a set of headers, a 750 double pump holley carb, a "torque drive" flex radiator fan, and a Hurst Competition Plus 4 speed shifter, there were VERY FEW cars pulling up beside you at a red light around 1:00 a.m. with some "smart *** driver with a smirk on his face" that you really needed to worry about. THAT ASSHOLE sitting beside you was about to watch your Duster tail lights fade off into the night FAR IN FRONT OF HIM!!

"and that's the way it was.... "

 

[Vs29H1B]

A lot of truth describing the giant killer that the properly setup and tuned 1970 Duster 340 was, back in the day! I saved up my nickels and dimes and factory ordered a 1970 Duster 340, 727 and 3:55 Sure Grip ( I wanted the 4 speed but a 18 years old male living in an urban area could not afford the car insurance for a 340 4 speed - even with the 727, my car insurance monthly payment was higher than my car payment!) - Jamaica Blue Metallic, bench seat with center arm rest, 727, 3:55 Sure Grip, rallye road wheels, AM thumbwheel radio. Stripes delete, body side molding. Miss that car!

My next door neighbor was one year older, and had purchased new a B5 1969 340 Dart Swinger, 727, 3:23 Sure Grip and we used to cruise together back in the day.

The AVS carb - at least on my car - was a bit of challenge to keep tuned especially curb idle.

Once setup properly, the car responded very well to an Accel dual point distributor, Doug's headers, and M+H drag slicks at the strip. 13.7x was where my car ran - in good air.

Those were the days!

 

[moparmat2000]

Have you started on rebuilding the duster? The way i see it, they did the hard work dissassembling it for you already.

 

[AJ/FormS]

Point and shoot, outrun anything to 85 mph, even with those crappy E/70-14s. Stopped pretty good too. After 85 the big boys were coming up fast! Somewhere around 90/95 even a BB New Yorker was nosing on me. And after 100, he was gone.
I learned to pick my marks.
But turning that 70Swinger was always an adventure. Even fast lane changes was likely to upset her. Thankfully it drifted pretty neutral. New tiires every spring, sometimes more often; 7 sets I burned off the back, during the time I owned it, from fall of 70 to spring of 76. I paid $2400 for it with 11,000 miles and sold it for $1300, just over 5years later.I used the money to pay some back-rent,lol.
The day the kid came to pick it up, I had to tow-start it, as the starter had quit. He said he could drive stick,no big deal; but I still wonder if he made it home across the big city.The kid was so excited. I say kid but I was just 23 myself,lol
She was all used up. Tired Second engine,grinding trans-again,whiney rearend-again, bald tires, worn out suspension,steering and brakes. All dented up. Panther Pink! or whatever Dodge called it.
Horrible car. Horrible, horrible, horrible. Horribly fun for a 17 year old kid like me.